Normal people don't have the tools to check the math on a formula that involves 500-digit numbers. Sure we do, for flexible values of "normal": from decimal

Normal people don't have the tools to check the math on a formula that involves 500-digit numbers. Sure we do, for flexible values of "normal": from decimal import getcontext, Decimal getcontext().prec = 600 n = Decimal(960939379918958884971672962127852754715004339660129306651505519271702802395266424689642842174350718121267153782770623355993237280874144307891325963941337723487857735749823926629715517173716995165232890538221612403238855866184013235585136048828693337902491454229288667081096184496091705183454067827731551705405381627380967602565625016981482083418783163849115590225610003652351370343874461848378737238198224849863465033159410054974700593138339226497249461751545728366702369745461014655997933798537483143786841806593422227898388722980000748404719) # ignore floors, just using integer arguments f = lambda x,y: (y/17 * Decimal(2)**(-17*x - (y%17))) % 2 results = {} dhalf = Decimal('0.5') for x in xrange(106): for y in xrange(17): # this takes a while results[x,y] = '*' if f(Decimal(x), Decimal(y+n))>dhalf else ' ' # this prints reversed for some reason unless we reverse the x iteration for y in xrange(17): print(''.join(results[x,y]+' ' for x in xrange(105,-1,-1)))